Artists' Biographies

Beth Clark

A native of Greenville, Beth Clark graduated from East Carolina University with a Master’s of Music in Piano Pedagogy and from the University of South Carolina with Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Pedagogy. She has taught private piano lessons for more than thirty years and has served on the faculties of East Carolina University and Chowan University. Currently she serves as the Music Director/Organist for the First Christian Church in Washington, North Carolina.

Her love of painting and drawing began when she was a child. This love was encouraged by her mother who was a former art teacher. Although she has experimented sporadically with watercolor, colored pencil and acrylics, her favorite medium is water soluble oil. She began working with this medium in 2013 and has been painting regularly ever since. She enjoys painting the natural world, especially birds, flowers, and eastern North Carolina landscapes.

Dolly Colwell

Painting is her passion and color is her world, depicted in architectural scenes, garden settings, and landscapes of artist, Dolly Colwell.

Over the years, she perfected painting intricate miniature scenes and portraits on Christmas ornaments. She has taken this experience to the canvas using oil with heavy application of brilliant color.

Her work has been featured in private showings as well as regional exhibitions where she has received numerous awards. She is a member of Greenville Brushstrokes, Twin Rivers Art Association, Craven County Arts Council, Beaufort County Arts Council, and Greenville Museum Artist Association.

Cynthia DeLaFontaine, transfer from CT to NC 13 years ago, now a retired postal worker, is doing what she loves and that is her art.

A graduate from Southern Connecticut State University with a Bachelor Science Degree were she majored in print making. She also enjoys water color, acrylics, and mix media.​Cynthia email address for her art work is dlforiginals@gmail.com

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Lou Everett

Lou Everett, Professor Emeritus at the College of Nursing, a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, and an artist, thoroughly enjoys passing her joy of painting to others. She currently serves as a Clinical Professor and Assistant to the Dean at the ECU College of Nursing.

Lou primarily paints in oils now but has also won awards in acrylics and watercolor. Regardless of the medium, she prefers to paint the effect of light on her subjects en Plein Air, and whether in the studio or en Plein Air, her palette is alive with color. Love for family and farm life can be found in vibrant paintings of “eastern NC and coastal flavor.” During the past several years, she has enjoyed painting scenes as well from the mountains of NC. Lou discovered painting as a delightful way to nurture and rejuvenate her body, mind, and spirit during years of career development and care living. She was the first President of Greenville Brushstrokes, and later served as President, the Watercolor Society of North Carolina. She is a member of Paint NC and currently serves on the board of the Friends of the ECU School of Art and Design. Her 2012 Solo show of “Humble Beginnings” was the Invitational Inaugural Exhibition of Art as Avocation at the Laupus Library, showcasing artistic talents from the Division of Health Sciences at ECU. Several of her paintings have been included in Kim Maselli’s book, Painting North Carolina: a Visual Journey (2013), available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble’s, and fine art galleries throughout NC. Images of her renderings have also been selected for inclusion in three o nursing textbooks, and is being considered for a another one. Since May 2012, Lou has collaborated with City Art using a “Traveling Studio” concept to offer classes in beginning watercolor. She has a studio in Kinston at Art 105, and is also represented by the Kinston Community Council for the Arts. She is also a member of Paint NC and Oil Painters of America. You can contact her at 252-341-5495 for more information or via her Website: loueverettart.com.

Dewey Funkhouser

I, Dewey Funkhouser was born in a farm house in 1932, about 2 miles from Mt. Jackson, VA in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley.

I left the valley at about the age of 18 and was employed in baseball for 4 years. Drafted in the army for 2 years.

Started a striping business in Lakeland, FL that I operated for 33 years before I sold the business. It still operates under my name to this day.

Linda Griffin

A Washington D.C. native, Linda achieved early success in oil painting in Washington D.C., Virginia, and New Jersey. Upon discovering watercolor, however, she realized her true medium. Having traveled extensively, her favorite subjects are regional architecture with bold color transitions, usually including the addition of flowers and strong shadows Linda enjoys painting large pieces that require the viewer to stand back! She lives in Eastern North Carolina and sells her work through galleries and her website. Linda travels and teaches workshops in various cities around the country.

Her work has been showcased at: The Persnickety Stores in Washington D.C., Tyson's Corner, Virginia and New Canaan, Connecticut, and Miller Fine Art,

Her corporate collections include: Marriott Corporation owning 28 watercolor commissions, Industrial Research Corporation of Japan, Tokyo owning 23 original commissions.Currently her work can be seen at : Inner Banks Artisans, Washington NC. Arts and Things, Morehead City NC, Sunset River Marketplace, Calabash NC, Berkley Gallery, Warrenton, Va., Morningstar Gallery, Blowing Rock, NC, Her own studio by appointment, Greenville NC. She teaches workshops around the US , as well as regular classes in Greenville NC through Jaycee Rec Center and privately in her studio

(Dorothy)Dodi Groesser

A native Nebraskan and a resident of North Carolina since 1989, is married to her artist husband, John Groesser. They live in the country near Grimesland, NC. A retired piano teacher, Dodi is now pursuing her lifelong passion for art. Painting “en Plein Air” is her first choice but is equally happy in her studio. Her paintings have a recognizable quality of soft edges. Dodi has been recognized with numerous awards for her oil paintings and is currently represented by River Walk Gallery and Arts Center in Washington, NC and Requisites in Virginia Beach, VA.

She and her husband have studied with many well known artists that have taken them to several exciting destinations including France, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, and Switzerland as well as much of our lovely US. Dodi retains membership in Greenville Brushstrokes, Emerge of Greenville, NC, Beaufort County Arts Council, Paint NC and has served on the board of the Greenville Museum of Art in Greenville, NC. Dodi has paintings published in two books, Painting North Carolina, Impressions in Plein Air and Painting North Carolina, A Visual Journey both by Kimberlee Maselli of Cary, NC. Contact information: johnanddodigroesser.com

John Groesser

Having grown up on a family farm in Nebraska, experienced “the good life”, a loving family, hard work and God’s beautiful great outdoors. Recently retired from a successful career with a mining company, his new office is the great outdoors where he captures “the good life” en Plein Air on canvas. He loves to pop the colors, stay loose and show energy with his bold and quick brushstrokes. John hopes to take the viewer to a special place, a reflection of a special moment in time or just make them smile. He has won numerous awards for his impressionistic style.

John is a member of Greenville Brushstrokes and Paint NC. His paintings can be found in River Walk Gallery and Arts Center in Washington, NC, Requisites in Virginia Beach, VA and in Down Creek Gallery in Ocracoke, NC. John has paintings published in two books, Painting North Carolina, Impressions in Plein Air and Painting North Carolina, A Visual Journey both by Kimberlee Maselli of Cary, NC. Contact information: johnanddodigroesser.com

Pete Hickey

Pete Hickey grew up in Acadia National Park on the coast of Maine and came naturally to a love of the landscape. Plein Air painting brings him closest to his preferred subjects--the coast, city-scapes, and the elements. Working primarily in watercolor, he embraces Monet's dictum: "Three brushstrokes from nature are worth three days' work in the studio." Pete's been fortunate to learn from some of today's foremost watercolorists: Don Andrews, Sterling Edwards, Mel Stabin, and Eric Wiegardt. You will see in his paintings all of the above influences: New England, rural subjects, and coastal scenes; and not least--since he's lived in Eastern North Carolina for the last fifteen years--pictures drawn from three lovely counties: Beaufort, Pitt, and Carteret. He is represented at the Village Gallery in Oriental, NC and the Requisites Gallery in Chesapeake, VA. He has received numerous awards in local shows. Each year he enters the Beaufort County Fine Arts Show, and was honored in this year's (48th Annual) show with Honorable Mention in the Mixed Media genre.

Blake Honeycutt

From Admirer to Participant:I have always had a creative bent. As a child, I would design rooms making doll furniture out of cardboard and scraps of fabric. I grew up in the era of “paper dolls.” I would become bored with the clothes which came with the paper doll, so I would design and draw out my own ball gowns for them. Interestingly, my brother was the one in the family who took art lessons, not me. I was encouraged to try piano instead. I collected original art for years, always drawn especially to watercolors. I had often thought I would paint when I retired. Then one day, I said, why wait? That was ten years ago and I have loved painting ever since.For years my chosen medium was watercolor, but I have recently enjoyed acrylics and have even dabbled in oils a bit. I have studied under local artists Janet Dixon, Lou Everett, Judy Dye, Linda Griffin and Pete Hickey, and attended workshops by Sterling Edwards, Bob Burridge, Karen Vernon and Dreama Tolle Perry. I occasionally show my work at Atavola Restaurant, and participate in the Greenville Brushstrokes annual shows and sales as well as any regional events offered to our group. I am mom of 3, grand mom of 11, and happily married for 47 years the love of my life. Eastern North Carolina has been my home for those past 47 years. I am dedicated to honoring the beauty I find all around me in our great region and state, as well as on my travels at home and abroad..

Brenda Hughes

Brenda has always liked getting paint on her hands from the tender age of 4 with her bright and colorful finger paintings. Raised in Kinston, North Carolina she has lived up and down the eastern seaboard. While traveling, she always found groups of creative women and explored many different mediums.

In addition to painting, Brenda creates journals from deconstructed cigar boxes and game boards. Her journal work can be found at Emerge, located in Greenville, North Carolina and Martin County Arts County in Williamston, North Carolina.

Today, Brenda continues to paint watercolors, acrylics and oils. Her work demonstrates her exploration of textures and layers using old maps, quotes directly written on canvas, the nautical location of her childhood, Topsail Beach, North Carolina, molding medium in addition to the acrylic paints and has been the majority of her focus since 2013. Her love of the sea is often captured in her paintings. Brenda can be found “throwing painting around” while listening and moving to the music playing in her studio.

Rebecca Ives

I have painted since I was a child and now I am inspired by the wealth of diversity in nature and our relationships to other living entities. My work is characterized by an exploration of styles and substance intending to invite the viewer to share in simple observations of these relationships.

I have worked as a graphic designer, a small business owner in retail music, and a picture framer. I am now painting full time with the intention of growing technically and imaginatively while creating art that acknowledges the value of our interaction with nature.

In the last 10 years I have sold over 700 small paintings on eBay to buyers both nationally and internationally. Most of that work was produced as the “daily painter” pursuit of completing a piece in one sitting.

I studied painting and drawing at East Carolina University under notable artists Paul Hartley, Ray Elmore, Tran Gordley and Ed Reep.

Dorothy Jensen

Dorothy Jensen was raised in Illinois and moved to Greenville, NC in 1973. She attended Pitt Community College and East Carolina University earning nursing degrees. She had a 30 year nursing career at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, and began painting upon retirement.

She loves color-color-color!! Did she mention color?? It is of interest to see how her work has evolved from small sweet pastels, to bold-colored creations reflecting her emotions and high energy. Jensen paints in her studio “Final Glaze”, as well as Plein Air with fellow artists. Her work includes landscapes, local historical sites, flowers, the human figure, portraits, and most recently abstracts.

She was the featured artist at the Yaupon Tree, Oak Island, NC, summer of 2012. Her work has been shown at the Greenville Museum of Art, A Tavola Restaurant, Unitarian Church, and the Greenville Brushstrokes Clothesline Show. Jensen is a member of the North Carolina Watercolor Society, Greenville Brushstrokes, and the Greenville Pallette Painters.

Jackie Jones

Jackie Johnson Jones from Scotland Neck, NC was born in Martin County and grew up on a farm in Oak City. Educational background includes ECU and Business School, Accounting and Marketing. She is self taught in pen and ink and found guidance in a fellow artist. Jackie draws mostly animals in pen and ink and uses pencils and Prismacolor marker to add color. Her new interest is Zentangle. Jackie has received Honorable Mention awards from the Emerge Gallery in Greenville, NC.

Today she is a busy lady running her printing franchise (Safeguard Business Systems, Since 1987), a division of the Deluxe Corporation, and her small chocolate company, both under Peacock Press, Inc. With plans of retiring in approximately 4 years, Jackie hopes to have more time for her creative side in the near future. Jackie also is a chocolatier, and sells chocolates from her home, and at her little shop within the Inner Banks Artisan Gallery in Washington, NC. Besides, her love of cooking, Jackie has made Nantucket Baskets with a group of ladies from Rocky Mount (only for her personal decorative use). She loves everything handmade, and her home demonstrates this with a country feel of handmade baskets (collection by her husband’s grandmother, friends and herself), dolls, and quilts by her mother in law, handmade pottery, bronze waterfowl pieces, her artwork, and art by others. Every piece of furniture is either handmade or a family heirloom.

In her younger days, Jackie raised Canadian Labrador retriever bloodlines, trained them, and ran competition hunt test trials. She was a communications volunteer with the United Kennel Club and wrote for their national magazine concerning events in a three state area. Some of her pups went to employees of the Pentagon, and pilots of Air Force One. This could be why she loves to draw animals, as her pups always had a special place in her heart. She greatly loves her friends at Brushstrokes who encourage the creative side of all its members.